Browning Stainless Long Action 250 Ackley Improved

P.O. Ackley described his .250 Savage Improved as one of the best of the so-called “improved” cartridges. He went on to add that “it shows a greater percentage of increase in velocity than almost any other.” I was puzzled by that statement until it finally dawned on me that he had to be comparing the velocities of his maximum-pressure handloads to 100-grain factory ammunition that at the time had the same velocity rating of 2,820 fps as today. Ackley obviously had the pedal to the metal, because his top published velocity of 3,271 fps with a bullet of that weight in the .250 Improved is considerably faster than the larger .257 Roberts is commonly handloaded to, and about as fast as maximum loads in the even larger .25-06 Remington.